Pippa's rumored romance: Who the hell is Andre Balazs?

Julie Sprankles is a freelance writer living in the storied city of Charleston, SC. When she isn't slinging sass for SheKnows, she enjoys watching campy SyFy creature features (Pirahnaconda, anyone?), trolling the internet for dance work...

Mr. Right Now

Andre Balazs has dated the likes of Uma Thurman and Chelsea Handler, and now he's been spotted with Britain's most eligible bachelorette, Pippa Middleton. What gives this guy so much mojo?

He gives "bed-and-breakfast" new meaning

Escaping to the luxurious accommodations of an upscale hotel brings many pleasures: super-silky 600-thread-count sheets, oft-unparalleled views, and that delicious gourmet chocolate the maids leave on your pillow. Ladies who date Andre Balazs can add one majorly appealing perk to the already impressive package — Andre himself. Turns out this tall, dark and handsome man just happens to be one of the world's most successful hoteliers, as president and CEO of Andre Balazs Properties. Including Hollywood's legendary Chateau Marmont, he boasts three hotels in Los Angeles, three in New York and two in Miami. We think it's safe to say that, along with the tasty chocolate treat left by the maids, ladies lucky enough to date Balazs also enjoy a little pillow time with the magnate morsel.

He's pretty ... smart

Balazs comes by his brains honestly. His parents both enjoyed cerebral occupations; his dad taught at Harvard Medical School, and his mom was a psychologist. Upon moving to the Big Apple from Cambridge, Massachusetts, a young Balazs tackled an Ivy League undergrad degree in humanities at Cornell University. Then, instead of resting on his laurels, he opted to pursue a dual journalism and business master's degree at another Ivy League institution — Columbia University. After graduation, he spent a brief period working in politics before founding a biotech company with his dear ol' Harvard Med-educated dad. So, as if wooing and winning over a steady stream of highly desirable Hollywood women wasn't proof enough, Balazs' educational background goes to show that he's not just another handsome face.

He may just be a bit of an exhibitionist

Does a man who makes his living in the hotel business log serious time between the sheets? One can only assume, particularly when said hotelier has supposedly expressed pleasure over the fact that one of his hotels has earned a reputation for sexual displays of a notoriously public nature. Yep, you read that right. Recently, The Standard — one of Balazs’ hotels — has been making headlines due to an apparently contagious proclivity of guests to get down and dirty in plain view of pedestrians passing by. People seemed shocked by Balazs' nonchalant reaction to the naughty antics, but c'mon ... the man built a hotel entirely of non-reflective glass surfaces. Perhaps when funny lady and former Balazs lover Chelsea Handler described her relationship with Andre as "exhausting," she was referring to much more than the jet-lag inducing cross-country flights.

He dates super-hot women and holds his own

Outside of the exorbitantly overpriced handbags that stars are so prone to carry (and that we are so prone to covet), it's hard to imagine anything on the svelte arms of Hollywood's leading ladies that could compete with said celebrities' intimidating good looks. Enter Andre. Named one of the 10 most stylish men in the world by GQ magazine, the hotelier effortlessly qualifies as man candy. His naturally attractive traits — strong jawbone, muscular physique, killer smile, etc. — pair perfectly with designer duds and look picture-perfect alongside whatever celebrity stunner he's hitting premieres with at the moment. If you ask us, Balazs is the new black.